Some parks closing for deer hunt

Specified areas and trails within Cincinnati Parks will be closed Sept. 28 to Feb. 2 so bow hunters can help control deer populations.

Specified areas and trails within Cincinnati Parks will be closed for part of the fall and winter to allow bow hunters to help control the deer population.

The deer management program aims to reduce, not eliminate, the number of deer in the parks.

The Park Board has been studying the impact of deer on parkland for more than a decade.

Findings indicate that the deer populations in the parks far exceed the target count of 15 to 20 deer per square mile, as recommended by the State of Ohio Division of Wildlife.

Forest regeneration and wildflower studies have determined that the overall health of Cincinnati Park forests, and of the herd itself, is in jeopardy because of deer over population.

Since the winter of 2007, the Cincinnati Park Board has been working to control the deer population that has decimated our native forest plant species.

Though the population levels are recommended to be 15 to 20 deer per square mile, the Mt. Airy Forest population has reached as high as 145 deer per square mile, and in California Woods, 103 deer per square mile.

Such excessive deer populations are the reason bow hunting will be permitted in these select parks Sept. 28 to Feb. 2.